The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (film)
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith | |
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Directed by | Fred Schepisi |
Screenplay by | Fred Schepisi |
Based on | The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally |
Produced by | Fred Schepisi |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Ian Baker |
Edited by | Brian Kavanagh |
Music by | Bruce Smeaton |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Hoyts Theatres |
Release date |
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Running time | 122 minutes |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Budget | A$1.2 million[1] |
Box office | A$1.021 million (Australia) |
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a 1978 Australian
The story is about an exploited
The film was critically acclaimed, but lost A$179,000 at the box office. For Schepisi, the film's reception was a disillusioning experience and he left Australia soon after to work in Hollywood, returning to Australia ten years later to make Evil Angels.[3][4]
While not prosecuted for obscenity, the film was seized and confiscated in the UK under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 during the video nasty panic.
Plot
Jimmie Blacksmith, child of
Shortly after the birth, Jimmie's full-caste half-brother Mort and uncle Tabidgi arrive, and Jimmie enlists their help in his fence-building work. However, Mr. Newby uses their presence as an excuse to deny Jimmie his pay and provisions, claiming the extra men were not part of their arrangement. Meanwhile, Mrs. Newby and a schoolteacher friend Miss Graf try to convince Gilda to take her baby and leave Jimmie for a teaching opportunity in another part of the country, which Gilda refuses. Furious at the mistreatment his family is facing, Jimmie enlists Tabidgi to help put a "scare" into the Newby women while the men are away, planning to threaten them with hatchets. The plan backfires and turns into a rampage that leaves Mrs. Newby, Miss Graf, and all the Newby daughters but one infant dead. Jimmie's family flee the compound, and shortly after Tabidgi, Gilda, and the child are left behind as Jimmie and Mort continue on the run. They soon murder Jimmie's previous employer Healey as well, with Jimmie announcing that he has declared war, in the manner he once heard the fighting against the
Still uncaptured, Jimmie and Mort come upon a schoolteacher, McCready, whom they initially wound by gunfire; he convinces them not to kill him by showing them a newspaper article about their notoriety. They decide to take him as a hostage. As the brothers argue about the morality of their killing of women and children, McCready makes bitterly humorous observations about the influence of white people on the Aborigines. He convinces Jimmie to abandon Mort by indicating that Mort's soul has had none of Jimmie's detrimental white influences. Mort in turn takes McCready to a farm to recover, but is killed by a pursuing group led by the Newby males and Miss Graf's fiancee Dowie Steed. Jimmie himself is shot at in a lake, but manages to crudely tend to his wounds and hide out in a convent. He is found by police, who vainly try to prevent townspeople from beating him as they take him to jail. In the final scene, Jimmie is read the last rites by Rev. Neville in his cell, as the butcher/hangman observes them, and declares that despite the (perceived) unique physical characteristics of Jimmie, his hanging will likely go as normal as any other.
Cast
The cast, a mix of professional actors (most of the white actors) and amateurs (most of the Aboriginal actors), was described by Pauline Kael as "a triumph of casting and coaching."[5]
- Tom E. Lewis as Jimmie Blacksmith (credited as "Tommy Lewis")
- Freddy Reynolds as Mort Blacksmith
- Ray Barrett as Farrell
- Jack Thompson as Rev. Neville
- Angela Punch McGregor as Gilda Marshall (credited as "Angela Punch")
- Steve Dodd as Tabidgi
- Peter Carroll as McCready
- Ruth Cracknell as Mrs. Heather Newby
- Don Crosby as Newby
- Elizabeth Alexander as Petra Graf
- Peter Sumner as Dowie Steed
- Tim Robertson as Healey
- Ray Meagher as Dud Edmonds
- Brian Anderson as Hyberry
- Jane Harders as Mrs. Healey
- Julie Dawson as Mrs Martha Neville
- Jack Charles as Harry Edwards
- Arthur Dignam as Knoller
- Robyn Nevin as Mrs McCready
Production
The film's budget was raised from a variety of sources; $350,000 plus a loan of $50,000 from the
Tommy Lewis was spotted by Fred Schepisi's wife at Tullamarine just walking past. He was approached and was eventually cast.[6]
Filming began on 8 August 1977 and went for fourteen weeks. It was shot in Panavision and is "one of the rare movies in which a wide screen is intregral to the conception."[5]
Awards
The film won the Best Original Music Score (Bruce Smeaton), Best Actress in a Lead Role (Angela Punch McGregor) and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Ray Barrett) and was nominated for 9 more awards at the Australian Film Institute (AFI) for 1978. It was also nominated for the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival.[7]
Box office
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith grossed $1,021,000 at the box office in Australia.[8] Because of the promotional costs involved, only $50,000 was returned to the producers. Schepisi lost his entire investment.[1]
Home media
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith was released on DVD with a new print by Umbrella Entertainment in November 2008. The DVD is compatible with all region codes and includes special features such as the theatrical trailer and audio commentary with Fred Schepisi. The 30th Anniversary Edition also includes interviews with key cast and crew including Fred Schepisi and Tommy Lewis, a Q&A session with Fred Schepisi and Geoffrey Rush filmed at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2008, a stills gallery and Making Us Blacksmiths, a documentary on the casting of Aboriginal lead actors Tommy Lewis and Freddy Reynolds.[9][10] Many of the features of this disc were ported over for a U.S. DVD release from studio Industrial Entertainment, but is now out-of-print.
Reception
The film holds a 100% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.[11] Fred Schepisi said the Americans regarded the film as a Western and it led to him being offered the chance to direct one.[12]
Roger Ebert praised the film's historical and ideological authenticity: "Its story is told entirely in the moral terms of the raw Australian outback of about 1900, and the racial attitudes in the movie are firmly drawn from that period... it is valuable because it deals with its materials in the terms of the period in which it is set. I found no message in the movie, and no contemporary political attitude reflected in the events of the past."[13]
Other
"The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith" by Australian
See also
References
- ^ a b c David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p134-137
- ^ The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978) at British Film Institute website
- ^ The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith at the Australian screen
- ISBN 1863733116.
- ^ ISBN 9781598535082
- ^ David Roe & Scott Murray, "Fred Schepisi", Cinema Papers, January 1978 p244-246, 269
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
- ^ "Film Victoria – Australian Films at the Australian Box Office" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ "Umbrella Entertainment – 30th Anniversary Edition". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
- ^ "Umbrella Entertainment – Single DVD". Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
- ^ "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (24 July 2019). "50 Meat Pie Westerns". Filmink.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith movie review". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital. Retrieved 27 January 2022.